MechEng's Build Thread

Well I purchased the car back in Mid-April at the Pomona Auto Swap Meet. Here's a list so far of all the things I've done:

1973 Build Log

• Rebuilt original 2BBl Carb using Autozone Rebuild Kit

• Attempted to repair original copper radiator

• Purchased aftermarket aluminum radiator

• Installed new lower radiator hose

• Installed new timing cover

• Installed new water pump

• Installed new rotor

• Drilled out existing ignition cylinder

• Installed new ignition cylinder

• Purchased full set of door locks

• Purchased a new trunk lock

• Purchased new battery

• Purchased new battery tray

• Removed existing battery tray, repaired rust damage to body under battery tray

• Installed new battery tray and battery

• Purchased and installed new battery wires and starter wire

• Cleaned up all wiring connections at Voltage regulator

• Corrected ignition wiring

• Removed aftermarket alarm wiring that was poorly installed

• Removed dash and dash pad to gain access to gauge pod

• Removed steering column to service dash and correct wiring

• Fixed brake circuit fire hazard home style wiring

• Removed gauge cluster

• Cleaned all contacts on gauge cluster flex circuit

• Removed headlight switch and cleaned contacts

• Reinstalled headlight switch and gauge cluster

• Added fluid to rear brake reservoir

• Bled front brakes

• Determined valve was blocking pressure to rear brakes

• Removed upper radiator hose and water outlet

• Replaced thermostat

• Replaced oil filter

• Replaced all soft fuel lines, minus the piece right at the fuel tank

• New locking gas cap (only one I could get on short notice)

• New PS Pump spacer, New Alternator Spacer

• New engine bolt kit, replacing fasteners as I remove them

I'll continue to use this thread to keep you guys updated with pictures and progress!

Next steps:

Get the PS Pump installed

Get the steering column back in

Get the rear brakes working again

Put the hood back on it

Drive it like I stole it!

Always up for suggestions on things to do with it too!

Great list of accomplishments in a very short time...you have any time to sleep? I think I remember seeing that car at Pomona as I am a regular visitor. Good luck with the rebuild and welcome from So Cal.

Jeff

Sleep? I think I remember hearing about something called sleep back before I went into college.

Really I've just been quite lucky and things have gone very well. I'm a Mechanical Engineer so I'm able to deal with problems as they come up and have a lot of resources at my disposal.

Were you at the Pomona Swap Meet this last weekend? I spied a few nice 71-73's but didn't check out many of the cars as I was on a parts hunt!

I'll post up some pictures of the car this weekend. I'm hoping to get my engine back together and start working on the interior.

Keep the updates coming

Did some work on the car this weekend, didn't quite get done everything that I wanted, but made some progress all the same.

Pulled the dash out of the car and cleaned up the instrument cluster as best I could. Swapped out all the bulbs for LEDs in an attempt to make it a little brighter.

Swapped out my old PS return line, someone has cut it off of the PS cooler at some point and it was about 2 inches shorter than it needed to be. A new one fixed that right up!

Got my PS pump back in the car with the correct spacer installed (my car had AC but I pulled the compressor as all the lines were pretty well toast) so now my pulley lines up like it's supposed too.

Put the dash back in the car to test everything out, initial signs were good. Then I checked the car at night, only one of my dash illumination lights is working properly, going to have to pull the cluster back out, and take another look at the contacts, I seem to be battling a major corrosion issue.







I'm waiting on some parts to come in at the moment. A new fuel line, a new steering column gasket, and a battery tie down kit, hopefully once I get all of those in, my next trip will be to the tire store to get a set of rear tires that don't go flat after a few hours. It's getting there, piece by piece!

TMI. Real nice car, your doing great it seems! Dont need to know about oil filter changes, unless you want to talk FRAM vs Purilator. Because you should ALWAYS buy Purilator because they are the real deal and FRAM is hype marketing junk. Ha ha ha

The updates are appreciated.

It is looking good.

Awesome, Brutha! Keep up the great work and post more pics! ::thumb::

Never use fram oil filters! Replace that filter ASAP!

Clearly i was joking with you as i am quite envious of your woodgrain trimmed gauges and original air conditioning dash WITH map light. That is a top model car to restore.

Today I walked by the car and wiped some dust off of it... okay so maybe I did go a tad overboard on the details! I started making the list for my own personal records and decided to throw it up on here for everyone to see.

I hate that there's a fram filter on the car, but its what comes with the oil change deal at Autozone! I'm just trying to run the engine a bit to break as much sludge loose from sitting for as long as it did before changing the oil again and going to a filter that's not just a piece of cardboard wedged into a soup can!

Thanks for the support guys!

Dude, i said i was kidding. actually i looked at your list and it got me to thinking of stuff i had been putting off...and got me to looking in the parts boxes, which made me exchange the gauge harness for the correct one. the dealer said "that was a year ago" HA HA so thanks! now if i can just get up the energy and enough Advil to try to install that intermt wiper box under the dash that i have had for 2yrs.

Looks like you are kickin some arse on it!! Can't wait to see the led lights too....Ok im brining mine over tomarrow..Looks like you got some room made for it hehe jk

Ya..Fram works fine..I mostly buy oil filters with a spring loaded bypass....Long as you change your oil on time it wont matter anyways...+1 to keeping us updated on you're progress.

Nice work ME!

Haven't been able to do much on the car because of waiting for some parts to come in. Yesterday I got a lovely box in the mail! Received my new fuel line, battery tie down kit, and steering column seal. Plan is to get the car back together this weekend, and if things go really well, take it to the tire shop for some new rubber (Current tires are from about 1985)

I've also got a little surprise planned for the dash, hopefully I can get this all done in one weekend!

Michael,

Sounds like you have a fun weekend planned. Give me a shout if you need some help. Also, if those tires are 14's I need two for rolling my car around and to take to paint shop when the day comes. Dont throw them away, will come get em.

Jeff

for the steering column seal. to correctly install it you have to take apart the entire column then slide it up to the lower flange and reinstall the rag joint. Too much work.

I cut mine like a pacman, slipped it around the lower part of the column, then reused the original staples on the column and fastened it back down, then i put a bead of sealant on the cut i made. put some sealant on the backside of the foam gasket then reinstalled the column back into the car and anchored the lower column to the firewall with the 3 bolts(going off memory) there is enough room to still lower or raise the column if needed to work on the instrument cluster with the lower column bolted down.

I basically gutted my car to rebuild it and every single thing attached to my car's body is new or has been touch.

the lights in the dash will always be a huge pain with bad contacts. I would recommend if you have not. is pull out the blue filters from the cluster and replace the standard bulbs with blue/green LEDs our dash boards are known to be super dim. just don't replace the turn signal dash lights with LEDS or you will blind yourself driving at night.

keep plugging away you will get there.

Nice progress Michael!

for the steering column seal. to correctly install it you have to take apart the entire column then slide it up to the lower flange and reinstall the rag joint. Too much work.

I cut mine like a pacman, slipped it around the lower part of the column, then reused the original staples on the column and fastened it back down, then i put a bead of sealant on the cut i made. put some sealant on the backside of the foam gasket then reinstalled the column back into the car and anchored the lower column to the firewall with the 3 bolts(going off memory) there is enough room to still lower or raise the column if needed to work on the instrument cluster with the lower column bolted down.

I basically gutted my car to rebuild it and every single thing attached to my car's body is new or has been touch.

the lights in the dash will always be a huge pain with bad contacts. I would recommend if you have not. is pull out the blue filters from the cluster and replace the standard bulbs with blue/green LEDs our dash boards are known to be super dim. just don't replace the turn signal dash lights with LEDS or you will blind yourself driving at night.

keep plugging away you will get there.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up on this! I did some work on the car this weekend:

Got the steering column seal attached and got the column back into the car

Reconnected all the electrical harnesses and bolted the column back to the underside of the dash

Swapped out all the bulbs in the dash for LEDs, though I need to pull the cluster back out, only one of them is turning on even after I bench tested the whole thing, might wait a bit on this though

Got the car running again after troubleshooting a major vacuum leak issue

So the beast runs and lives again! She's timed spot on at about 6-8 degrees at idle, but runs rough and sputters a bit, almost sounds like I have a cylinder missing. The plug wires are new but pulling one of the plugs showed a pretty heavy dose of carbon build-up so I think the next step is a new set of properly gapped plugs and see where that takes me.

I swapped my electrical oil pressure sending unit with a mechanical gauge so I could get a "better" reading on the pressure that the engine is making. It sits at about 30psi on cold start-up and will raise to 60psi at about 2500rpm

However once the engine gets warm, the needle settles out to about 0psi, and will raise to about 20psi at 2500rpm, is this normal? I don't have much experience in this area and it makes me a bit nervous to see a gauge at 0 anything

Also got all my leaks fixed (power steering, transmission, and oil pan) so the engine has finally stopped smoking when I run it, also confirmed the new thermostat is working properly and there are no leaks in the cooling system.

She's close to needing a new set of tires so I can actually see what it feels like to drive a car almost twice as old as I am

And lastly, any recommendations on the best plugs for these cars? I know this is a heavily opinion based point, but I'm curious what other's experience has been.

I have a video of the engine running I'll try to get up later today.